C_J I disagree with him. I think the threat of Scottish nationalism combined with the levelling up agenda and the proximity of the electorate means that money should be distributed more evenly under Brexit….
This is sort of the problem… they will only spread the wealth evenly whilst there is some sort of threat to their power. Once Brexit is a distant memory and all the independence chatter has died down, they will go back to treating everyone who isn’t in London, or their best friend, like shite.
The EU was delightfully benevolent. Some bean counter in Brussels doesn’t have any history with me, he doesn’t have an opinion on me or where I come from, he just sees that my part of the country has reached a threshold of one kind or another and therefore gets some of it’s taxes back. Boris and chums have opinions, very human opinions, very southern middle class opinions, and they don’t like you, or me, or anyone who didn’t go to Eaton or the like, and they will leave you to rot if they think they can get away with it… and the minute they think they are no longer getting away with it, they will whip out a new initiative or investment plan to appease you and make you forget you have been left to rot. See the Northern Powerhouse etc.
Back in the 80s Geoffrey Howe told Thatcher to not spend any money on Liverpool and instead leave it to a ‘managed decline’. I don’t think the current Tories are any different at all. I’d say they where currently doing something similar with the NHS. If any of them gave a fuck, they’d be pouring resources into it, not giving out bullshit PPE contracts. They see everything through the lens of business and not people.
I’d quite like to be governed by a super intelligent non political AI or some sort, but failing that, I’d like all parties to agree to a GDP percentage budget for the NHS and then ring fence it with some sort of accord that would forever take it out of the hands of any future government of any persuasion.
